How Times Do So Change
by Little Town
Summary: After not seeing each other for two years, Captain Nemo and Professor Aronnax come to terms about their relationship with each other. [art by my good friend patrick (tumblr user galway-bae); edit by me]
1. How Far Do I Have to Go to Get to You

_Helloooo! It's been a while since I've uploaded a fic_ — _and a 1k+ word one at that!_ — _but I plan to write and upload a lot over this spring break! I hope to make this a multi-chapter fic about my true OTP, Nemonnax! This first chapter in particular was based off the first chapter of a Nemonnax fic pair I read over on AO3 (they're called Dead Man in Paris and Captain's Quarters—please do so read them! They are amazing and totally worth your time). Otherwise, please enjoy ^^_

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I exited out of Dakkar's quarters, yawning a bit. I ran into Rudi, one of the shiphands that I befriended early on in my stay on the _Nautlius_. He greeted me good morning, and I the same.

"The _Nautilus_ has come to a stop. What has happened?" I asked, peeking out of a window and noticing that the fish swimming by were speeding past us.

"Yes, sir, we have stopped," Rudi said in German. We had spoken strictly in German, though my knowledge of it was limited; however, he was a patient teacher and taught me the words I did not know. "The Captain is at the helm, sir. I believe he wants to tell you the reason why himself."

I nodded my thanks as I walked to the command central of the _Nautilus_ , musing on how I have returned to the _Nautilus_ I have so yearned to come back to and find.

After miraculously surviving the maelstrom and returning to Paris, I found everything to be dissatisfactory. My old clothes were itchy and uncomfortable, and the taste of meat was bland and displeasing. My usual work became boring and dull, and I became restless, so I went out more and more, riding the rails to places outside of Paris and riding boats outside of France to different countries. I would often visit the Canadian, Ned Land, in New York.

Poor Conseil never wanted to set foot on a boat again, yet he kept accompanying me—bless the boy for his devotion; however, whenever I said that we would visit Ned, he had more of a spring in his step, and when the two are together, they get along surprisingly well—more so than I remember.

Whenever Ned visited us in Paris, he would always be extremely annoyed at the fact that all I ate was fish and seafood. Esmerelda, the cook, did her best—bless her soul—but never tasted quite the same as the food served on the _Nautilus_. At one point at dinner, Ned confronted me, yelling profanely, "For damnation, Professor, all you eat is fish! We're on land again, you can eat meat! Don't tell me you miss that bastard Captain Nemo and his damned _Nautilus_!"

Everything was silent. I did not say a word. Ned suddenly stood up from his chair. Conseil grabbed his hand in an attempt to get him to sit down, but Ned pulled away with an angry sigh and stormed out of the dining room. I looked down at the fish I was eating, not wanting to look Conseil in the eye.

"Master…"

I looked up at him with apologetic eyes, taking a slice of the venison at an attempt of an apology. It tasted bland and chewy; I swallowed it to the best of my ability. Quickly finishing my meal, I stood up and put on my coat and boots—it was raining heavily outside.

"Sir, where are you going at this time of night?" Conseil asked.

"To the beach."

"In this weather?"

"...Yes. I implore you to not follow me."

"But master—"

I was already out and closed the door on him before he could finish his sentence.

Braving the elements, I somehow found my way to the nearest beach. A storm was raging the seas—not unlike the maelstrom on the night that I had escaped from the _Nautilus_. I was suddenly overcome with the notion that I wanted to be on the _Nautilus_ again, but most importantly, to be with Captain Nemo again. I stared at the ocean's angry waves and her water crashing at the shore, hoping to see the _Nautilus_ ' light shining somewhere in the dark of the ocean.

I could not possibly have missed Captain Nemo, could I? I knew that I did indeed miss the fascination and the wonderful scientific endeavors that he provided for me, but I was not sure whether or not I missed the captain himself. No, I'm sure I miss him, but what I did not miss was his cruel actions of sinking frigates and so coldly watching them sink, along with the innocent men on them.

I saw a bright light, but only for a second. Suddenly crazed with emotion and frenzy, I took off my boots and coat and jumped into the ocean. I became a strong swimmer while I was on the _Nautilus_ , but after not having been swimming for two years, my arms quickly started to lose power. My clothes began to feel heavy on my body, and I could not keep myself afloat to get air for long. There was no Conseil to save me this time, so I began to sink into the water. My vision began to blur as it got harder to breathe. My head started pounding. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a shadowy figure of a man coming towards me.

I awoke still on the beach, soaking wet, but no longer storming so hard—rather a slight drizzle. I noticed a peculiar jacket was placed on my shoulders. I sat up from my lying position and found a man's figure standing a little ways away from me, proudly yet ominously, with their face away from me, his hands clasped behind him. I could recognize his tall figure anywhere—it was Captain Nemo. He had saved me.

xXxXxXx

"C-Captain Nemo?" I called out slowly.

He turned around, hesitating, but finally turning to face me. I gazed upon his handsome face, still so proud but softened, somehow.

"Indeed, Professor."

To have heard that voice again, to be able to have experienced the emotion whenever I hear his voice... I stood up and ran to him, stopping until I was about a foot away from him.

We stared at each other for a while, saying not a word.

The Captain turned his back to me. "I spent two years trying to find you," he said quietly, his anger apparent in his voice.

"You didn't have to," I said with a bitter smile. To think that the proud enigma, Captain Nemo, spent so much time out of his life attempting to find _me_?

"You deserted me! I treat you with nothing but courtesy and respect yet you _deserted_ me!" he yelled angrily.

"How could I bear to stay with you in good conscious when I saw you sink a frigate and stare at it so coldly like a madman?!"

The Captain turned around to face me again. "You don't understand, Professor, I had to!"

We stood in silence for quite a while, letting the rain drench us. I was afraid to say another word, afraid to disturb the delicate silence our outburst had caused.

"You… have stopped." He gave me a cold glare. I felt strangely peaceful with that expression, though that would have chilled me to the bone years before. "Sinking ships."

"I had other business to take care of," he snarled, yet I could hear no malicious intent in his voice.

I colored and heated up in spite of the cold rain dropping down on me. "I did not expect you to find me."

"I did not expect to want to," the Captain thundered again, seeming very irritated with himself.

Another long yet comfortable silence loomed over us.

"Why are you so dangerously close to civilization? This beach is the nearest one to the people of Paris, and is frequented, regardless of the season." I had to ask, despite whatever anger he held towards me right now.

Captain Nemo's voice and facial expression neutralized, portraying no emotion at all. "I had hoped to find you here." His scientific instincts came alive, curiosity taking over the control of his emotions. "Why have you returned? You could have locked yourself on land and away from the ocean, never to see me again."

I swallowed hard. "I… do not know." But I knew all too well. The second I saw him again, the minute I heard his voice and saw his silhouette, I knew why I could never live on land again. I stepped closer to him, stepping so unbearably close that I could move not even a centimeter and I would be able to feel his hand. "However..."

I reached out just slightly enough to clasp his index finger with mine. "I have returned and I never intend on leaving again."

"Good," Captain Nemo murmured, and possessively grabbed my hand in full. "I cannot stand to see you leave again." I must have made a startled expression. Frankly, I knew not at what I was startled. "Yes, I knew of your companions' plan to escape the _Nautilus_. I hold you in the highest esteem and I could not stop you if you wished to leave my ship." His hold on my hand tightened. "Men who will never leave each other will never hide secrets from each other. Do you understand what needs to be addressed?"

I swallowed, remembering a very particular experience regarding my thoughts with Captain Nemo. I became curious about the feeling in my core whenever I thought of him, and I decided to explore it, my "experiments" leading to… interesting results.

"You will not find any comfort in knowing my secrets, and I will respect the keeping of yours."

The Captain frowned, yet his eyes portrayed a different, undecipherable emotion. "Are you certain?"

"Yes."

"I see," he replied, this time his frown completely turning into something I have rarely seen—only once before: a smile. It was a small smile, but a smile nonetheless. I also identified the emotion in his eyes as something akin to fondness.

I audaciously gave a squeeze to the hand he was holding. "So? Shall we head to the _Nautilus_?"

Surprisingly enough, he squeezed my hand back. "I will let you wear the suit, due to your awful swimming, of course."

I had not noticed then, but I realize now that the rain had stopped drizzling as Nemo and I walked and swam hand in hand back to the _Nautilus._ Thus began my permanent stay with my beloved Captain Nemo _._

" _Captain, please, address me as Pierre."_  
 _"And I… Dakkar."_


	2. Laughter in the Rain

_Chapter 2 has finally arrived! Oh goodness, I'm really dedicated to writing about these two!_ Another _1k+ word chapter? This is totally unheard of! (I am also quite proud of my very Verne-esque paragraph of scientific nonsense. You'll see when you get there.) Please enjoy!_

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I exited my thoughts as I saw Dakkar's back standing proudly in front of a complicated panel of buttons and levers. "Dakkar," I called out slowly. I approached his side and placed a kiss on his right temple, where I found out was his favorite place to be kissed after sleeping in the same room as him for nearly three months now.

"Ah, good morning, Pierre. I see you have finally risen." He briefly turned to me with a small smile.

"Why have we stopped?" I asked, looking out the large window in front of me. Dakkar took this opportunity while I was not looking at him to kiss me back on my left temple. We have forged this series of movements into a routine-at least once a day, usually in the morning.

"We have made a stop at an island in the Pacific with coordinates of -16.500413° latitude and -151.74149° longitude for air and the collection of coconuts. You may depart and explore as you like."

My eyes lit up and I gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I will be back by lunch, dear!" I saw his cheeks color as he was not yet accustomed to my terms of endearment. If he said something afterwards, I did not hear it, as I nearly ran to our room to get my journal so I could make the most out of the few morning hours I had left.

I climbed out of the _Nautilus_ and took a deep breath of the humid air on the island. I had ample oxygen in the _Nautilus_ , but of course nothing could match the fresh air on land, where oxygen itself came from the trees and flowers.

I walked around and discovered two very tall mountain tops-volcanoes, perhaps?-and observed many of the flora and fauna. I found many trees-that I identified to be in the Rubiaceae family, but couldn't quite specify its genus and species-with a peculiar fruit on them. I took a couple of fruit and put them in basket I always have handy whenever I go on an excursion on land. I'll show these to Dakkar for approval to put on the ship for these fruit seem quite delicious. Some birds flying overhead I identified as the _Pterodroma nigripennis,_ more colloquially known as the black-winged petral. I continued walking and saw two beautiful, white, yet small birds mating on a tree. A closer look at them led me to identify them as _Gygis alba_. They are strange birds as they lay their eggs on bare branches without nests, yet they are notorious for quite a long life span. I almost stepped on an injured _Hirundo tahitica_ on the forest floor. I paused to pick it up and place it on the branches of a tree, hoping that it is well-hidden enough so that predators may not eat it. On my adventures of collecting coconuts and oranges and pausing from time to time to sketch a bird or two in my journal, I did not once encounter a mammal. Though I did not explore the whole of the island, I do believe that it is this way throughout the whole island. This must be attributed to the fact that the mountains must have been dormant volcanoes, and that those volcanoes did not allow for any large mammals to take root and establish themselves as citizens of this island.

I looked up to have an approximate guess of the time and was surprised to find that I could not see the sun in the sky. Dark and dense clouds covered the view of the sun's rays. I briskly walked back to the patch of grass near the _Nautilus_ where I know Dakkar was waiting for me. We had formed the habit that whenever we would resurface and there was land near by, we would have lunch under the trees together. I heard thunder rumble in the distance as I approached the silhouette of Dakkar waiting for me. As I got closer, I noticed he was facing me with a smile gradually gracing his face.

"Dakkar, are you certain you still want to eat lunch out here? It appears as if it will rain soon." I looked at the sky worriedly. "Not to mention, there is only a couple trees here to provide shelter either."

He looked up at the sky with hardened resolve. "Yes we will. A little rain won't hurt us."

I made a skeptical face and sighed fondly, knowing that Dakkar's pride wouldn't let him go back to the _Nautilus_ with disappointment imprinted in his mind.

We sat under the trees and began to eat the freshly-caught red snapper from the waters of this island. I showed him my findings of the strange fruit I picked from the tree, and he nodded his approval for it to be present on the ship. He said that the crew will pick them after lunch and that I would lead them to it. I also vividly described all of the creatures I found on this island, not noticing that it had already begun to rain-I had only noticed that water was falling from the sky at all when it was already pouring and I was soaking wet.

I suddenly ceased my chatter as I felt a strange and increasingly painful feeling on my toe. There, with its claws clamped around my appendage, was a rather large crab. I released a yelp and attempted to calmly pull the crab off my toe but to no success. I could feel myself begin to color as I knew Dakkar's eyes were on me, watching me.

I heard a hearty laugh. It was a laugh unlike anything I've heard before. It was so unique, so pleasant to the ears, and just so… magical, for lack of a better word. I looked up from my attempts of getting the crab off and stared dumbfoundedly at Dakkar. It was Dakkar. This was Dakkar's laughter I was hearing. His laugh was big, loud, hearty, and unbelievably happy. I could not help but stare at the overwhelming amount of beauty and appreciation that overflowed my heart.

If it was possible, I do believe that I have fallen in love with Dakkar more than I already am.

"D-Dakkar… Your laugh…" I was at a loss for words as he stopped and wiped a tear from his eye.

He regained his composure and coughed. "I deeply apologize, Professor. I seem to have lost control of myself there. Your expression was truly something else."

He called me "Professor"-he must be quite embarrassed to be so abnormally formal.

"That was wonderful, Dakkar. You should do that more." I paused. "...Laugh, of course."

We both sat in comfortable silence, my blush never leaving my cheeks.

" _...You change me, Pierre."  
"What was that, dear?"  
"Nothing of your concern."_


End file.
